Spirit also and yet the Nature Soul or Spirit of either God Angel or Man cannot be worshipped without a body for there is no Spirit whether immortal or mortal celestial or terrestial but it hath its own body and that sutable to its own nature as if its Spirit be an immortal glorious Spirit so is his body immortal glorious also and if its Spirit be mortal earthly so is its body mortal earthly also and this I say all bodies whether of God Man or Beast are invisible and seeth that which is without yet it self cannot be seen by any outward sight For who seeth the Spirit of a man save he that hath it So that I say if God were a Spirit without body he could not be seen so not worshipped no more then a Kings Spirit without a body could be honouâ—ed and therefore God being a spiritual body must be worshipped in Spirit And where thou sayest Feel me for a Spirit hath no flesh and bone as ye see me have I say from those words of the Lord Jesus it doth not in the least conclude that a Spirit is not cloathed with flesh and bone for I affirm the Apostles as well as others were dark in many things till Christ was glorified they supposing that Spirits might be seen without bodies and that by the eye of nature therefore Christ walking uâ—on the Sea and appearing among them the Doors and Windows being shut was the main cause of their sudden fear supposing they had seen a Spirit so that for the future and clearer satisfaction Christ tells them a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have though I be all Spirit yet feel me and behold my wounds and the print of my nails so that understand a Spirit without flesh and bone cannot be seen or felt unless a spiritual body so that against Angels and all thy Seed I affirm that God that Christ which said to the woman of Samaria God was a Spirit I say that self same Spirit was not in Heaven but in Christs body alone CHAP. 2. Shewing whether the Father became not a Son which which Son was Christ and by death became a Father to all Eternity now in Heaven glorified Reason THou hast told me all along that God hath a body in the form of a man and now thou sayest that the Spirit of God was in Christs body and not in the body of God the Father Where then was the body of God when his Spirit was in Christ Faith I shall affirm that as the Spirit of God was in Christ so the body of Christ was the body of God Creator of Heaven and Earth not two but one yea the very self-same body Reason Oh Friends this is a strange saying indeed that the body of God the Father should be the person of Christ If so how or which way came he down from Heaven to Earth it is so mysterious that it is beyond my reach or understanding Faith What is strange to thee is familiar with me for thou reads and understands not though it is frequently written in Scripture That Eternity was to become time yea immortality was to become mortal which is no less that the Father was to become a Son as it is written The seed of the Woman shall Gen. 3. bruise the head of the Serpent and to Esaiah it was revealed these saâ—ings For unto us a Child is born and unto us a Esay 9. 6. Son is given and his Name shall be called wonderful Counsellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace and again it is written In the beginning was the Joh. 1. 1 2 Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God which Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst men So that I affirm the coming down of the immortal personal God was clouded in those sayings The holy Ghost stall come Luke 1. 35. upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also the holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Reason I do not deny the truth of those sayings but do believe that Christ was the Son of God conceived by the holy Ghost but how or which way God was this Son I cannot tell neither do I believe that God did any more unto her then he did unto Adâ—m when he made him a living Soul the Scripture saith He breathed unto him and he became a living Soul So in the same manner I conceive God breathed into Mary and by that breath she conceived the Seed of God in her womb and so she not knowing of man called him the Son of God and not God for God was in Heaven when he was upon Earth Faith From my Seed-spring I say that the Childe that vvas conceived in the vvomb of Mary so called a Son Was the Mighty God the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace yea that Babe in her vvomb vvas the very God For the Word was God and became flesh and who was the Rower of the Highest that overshadowed Mary but God Creator of Heaven and Earth take notice that the knovvledge of these sayings vvas not to be revealed to thy Seed for saith the Prophet Vnto us yea unto us Prâ—phets and the Messengers of the Lord a Son is given and a Child is born and therefore thou canst not tell hovv God the Creator should become a Son and Saviour but imagines God as he vvas a Spirit breathed into her vvomb as he breathed into Adam and so by that breath she conceived a man-child as touching this I tell thee there is great difference of a living and a dying Seed for by that breath Adam became life and by her overshadovving she vvas not made alive but had a conception in her living vvomb novv there can be no conception vvithout a Seed and that Seed must first dye before iâ— quicken to life again as it is vvritten Before the Wheat grain dye it abideth alone So that against Angels above and all their Seed belovv I affirm as from the Scriptures before is proved that God the Creator in the form of a man vvho is the onely Povver of the Highest did descend from his Throne and Kingdom as svvift as thought and his vvhole body pierced through her secrets in a Trance and in a momeâ—t dissolved into Seed and there died from an immortal Father and quickned there to a mortal Son of flesh blood and bone so called Christ Jesus the Saviour of the world Reason Oh admiration this is a report of astonishment that for my part I never never read or by the hearing of the ear ever heard till now that God in the form of a man should as thou sayest vvith that form descend from Heaven and for ought I knovv of as large proportion and bigness as thy self enter the vvomb of Mary and the greatest vvonder of all is that God vvith a body as big as thine should descend like lightning from Heaven and
by the man how the Devil got into him nor how this Devil or Devils went out of him and got into the Herd of Swine nor what become of those Devils in the Sea whether drowned in the Sea or no but however so as I have said before so I say again that there is no Devil without a body that can torment another neither can that Devil if he were not generated in man either come in or go out of man but he must be seen otherwise he is no Devil at all as for instance the distemper of man cannot be cast out but it may be seen and felt in the foul and stinking body that poysoned and distempered the minde of man And how dost thou know that the Soul of man leaveth or goeth out of the body at the hour of death CHAP. 9. Shewing what the Soul is and what it is that dieth how that the Soul which is the life of the body can dye and nothing else but life that dieth Reason VVHY I believe the Soul cannot dye because I conceive it a thing impossible the Soul being an Eternal Spirit cannot be capable of death and besides Solomon saith Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it So that it is my believe the Soul cannot dye Faith Though this Principle be fully cleared in the Prophets Book called joyful news from Heaven yet I shall reveal the truth of it upon another account that the Soul is mortal so capable to dye otherwise it could not live Eternal for as nothing but life can dye and that life being dead shall be made capable to live a life Eternal Reason Before thou proceed any further let me but hear how that nothing but life can dye which it is conceived by all knowing men that life which thou callest the Soul is immortal and cannot dye Now that natural life that runs in the blood may dye and therefore it is confessed when a man is murthered or hanged his breath is stifled and so the natural mortal dies yet all this while as Salomon saith The Soul goeth to God that gave it Faith Having in our former writings made it appear that Solomon was the highest pitch of Reason that ever was so what he spake was onely knowledge in nature and not by the Revelation of Faith therefore no Scripture For Reason imagineth things that are not and things that cannot be understood by any sober man much less by a man in Revelation as to think that an immortal Soul or Spirit should be limited to a mortal body which is as possible as light and darkness to dwell together as an immortal Soul to live in a mortal body therefore I say that the Soul and body of man are one distinct living and dying essence for the Soul or Spirit in the womb by degrees congeals together into a rational fire of blood and water and so in due time become a compleat body of flesh blood and bone so that the life that is in man is not Divine but natural onely Reason This is strange that the Soul or Spirit of a child should conceive in the womb that being a breath or gift of God and not generated in or by the seed for I read that God breathed into Adam and he became a living Soul so his Soul was not immortal but mortal and so is all man-kind Faith However it is strange to thee yet I know it is a real truth to me that the Word by which God first created life in man that Word or Breath was immortal which by his fall became mortal as at large is cleared in the seventh Chapter and this know God never created but male and female and gave life but once and since every life in its kinde hath generated bearing seed in its self so that from my Revelation I say that the rational Soul or Spirit of man lyes secretely hid in his seed like unto a spark of fire which spark doth quicken it self into a living form like unto his nature and so having cloathed it self with flesh his Soul or Spirit runs invisibly through the whole body and so is one entire substance being both conceived into life in the womb togegether and both living together upon the earth their appointed time and being both polluted together with sin is it not requisite that they should dye together and turn to the dâ—st and nâ—n-being again until the general bodily Resurrection of all man-kind Reason I know no other but that every man hath in him a good Spirit and a bad spirit as it is written The spirit lusteth Gal. 5. 17. after the flesh and the flesh agaâ—nst the Spirit and these are contrary So that by the learned it is believed that there is a natural life and an Eternal life in one man otherwise the body and Soul are both one which in Scripture I never read that these were both one bâ—t two one fleshly and the other spiritual Faith Didst thou know the truth of what thou hast said then wouldst thou know as followeth that every man in his fallen spirit hath remaining a little light or motion in him to justifie all the righteous proceedings of the Creator in his Conscience at the last day yet mind what I say he hath but one Soul or Spirit in him for that which the Apostle calls spirit in this place was a Divine light of life received unto the dark understanding by vertue of a word speaking from the eternal Spirit of the Lord of glory and not the essence of the holy Spirit for I know that those who do expect a glory to come in the invisible Heavens do confess that the spirit of the Divine Majesty is inâ—â—nite unchangeable immortal eternal therefore how thinkest thou it possible for men or Angels to be capable of the indwelling of the 〈…〉 nce of his Eternal Spirit and that which the Apostle calls flesh was mans own Spirit which consists of nothing but confused lying imagination or cursed carnal reasoning against the Heavenly light aforesaid Now that I may answer the last clause of thy demand that the Soul and body is one it is written All the Souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which came Gen. 46. out of his loins were threescore and six â—ouls again it is written Thy Fathers went dowâ— into Egypt with seventy persons Deut. 10. So that it is plain man is sometimes called Soul and sometimes is called a body or person or Soul Body and Spirit and yet man is but one living essence or substance However the learned of thy seed pretend they know much of this when indeed they know the least of all as to separate a mortal soul from a mortal body or to unite an immortal Soul to a mortal body which is as possible to make light and darkness God and Devil one Reason This is strange that none but thou shouldst know or dâ—scerâ— the Soul immortal when
was no God Spirit Power or Father vvithout the body of Christ to quicken that vvhich vvas vvithin the body of Christ but lay in its pure Seed onely Reason And did that pure Seed vvithout the help of any other povverful life vvithout quicken it self again Faith Yea vvithout the assistance of any without at all for let me tell thee there vvas no such povverful life vvithout the body of Christ as vvas dead vvithin the body of Christ therefore impossible that vvhich received life from Christ should quicken the life of Christ that created it no I say the povver of dying and living again lay in its ovvn nature only so that there vvas neither any infinite Spirit God or Father besides Christ that did quicken the Seed of Christ from death to life in the grave but his ever living Word of Faith spoken before his death I say that pure Heavenly Faith is death in life and life in death and this vvas that vvhich redeemed his Soul from the povver of the grave as it is vvritten O death I will be thy death O grave I will be thy destruction this Povver vvas dead and raised it self from Hos 13. 14 mortality vvith a spiritual body vvithout the help of any other to immortality again Reason Did he raise that same body that he vvas crucified in and buried vvith If not What became of that body and vvith vvhat body did he rise Faith I say Christ did rise vvith the very same body that he vvas Crucified in that same body vvas raised and no other Faith Hovv came it then from a moatal body to an immortal body seeing it was the same body which was capable to dye Hovv could that same body be made capable to live again a life Eternal Faith If the immortal body of God the Father had not died in the vvomb of Mary to a mortal Son of flesh blood and bone he had not been capable to live in this vvorld among his creatures and upon the Cross have died again as a mortal Son he had not been capable to live in that immortal glory from vvhence he came so that Christ as he vvas God tvvice passed through death viz from immortality to mortality and from mortality to immortality again Now to Ansvver hovv that body vvhich vvas made capable to dye vvas made capable to live in glory was thus That which was mortal viz. Water Earth and Air being dead I say that spark of Faith did kindle it self throughout the same form so raised the same body vvithout any of the gross Elements aforesaid so that novv it vvas a body without blood onely the same flesh and bone purified yea refined into a soft thin bright spiritual form swifter then thought so that now having raised it self to the same it was when it descended from Heaven to the womb of Mary now it was able to appear among his disciples as it did in the womb of a woman their windows and doors being shut yea able to ascend to his kingdom of glory from whence he came and so sate on the right hand of his Father or the right hand of the Majesty on high where now he will remain to all eternity CHAP. 3. Shewing Christ is the onely God and Father yea the Creator of heaven and earth now it is to be revealed what God and Father that was and where he was that Christ so often called upon when he was upon earth Reason FRom thy last Answer thou hast raised more objections which I would desire thou wouldest be free to answer and that is if thou canst reveal unto me what God or Father that was and where he was that forbid Joseph in a dream not to turn away his Wife saying That which was conceived in her womb was by the Holy Ghost and when Christ was born who it was that sent the angel with the whole host of heaven singing and praysing of God And when the wise men went to worship Christ that fore-warned them to go into their own countrey another way and told Joseph that he should take the childe with his mother and flee into Egypt and when Herod was dead commanded him to return back again And another time This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased these with many others I could relate which I desire thou wouldest answer seeing thou affirmest Christ was God the Father Faith Though I tell thee yet thou canst not believe me so that I may leave thee excuseless I am made free to speak unto thee and let thee know where it is written that Christ uttered a parable which was to this effect viz. There was a Mark 13. 34. certain man took his journy into a far countrey and set his house in order and gave authority to his servants and bid the Porter watch so that I affirm this parable was concerning his hard and sad journy he was then undertaking now the servants he intrusted with his divine Authority was Moses and Elias they were his porters that were to watch over Christ Jesus the Creator of heaven and earth for it is written before Christ became mortal flesh that there was Angels which Psalm â—1 11. should have charge concerning him which Angels were Moses and Elias and therefore it is written God buried Moses and took up Elias in a fiery chariot which none of the Prophets Exod. 20. 19 1 Kings 17. 2. 2 Kings cap. 1. was so suddenly transmuted into glory as they were and therfore it was for some great design more then ordinary otherwise there had been no necessity of raising them more then any other of the Prophets And then again thou mayest read there was none so much represented the Royal Prerogative Power of a God above as they did here below as at thy leisure read those Scriptures quoted in the Margent Reason Why could not God make use of some of the Angels then in glory to be as thou sayest his Steward or Deputy-father and to watch over his person the time he was upon earth they knowing him and was always obedient to him might as well officiate the place of trust and represented that authority as well as Moses and Elâ—as Faith Why or wherefore God was necessitated to take up Moses and Elias was as in these ensuing particulars will appear First because Elias was the Seed of Gods own nature and so are none of the Angels therefore not safe for God to trust a contrary Seed they being but pure reason when as the nature of Moses and Elias was Faith so that God knew it was impossible they should falsifie their trust committed to them Secondly if God had left the Angels to take care over him then had Christ in his infancy perished by the hands of Herod in that the Angels are not able to subsist one day without the revelation of the person of Christ therefore he being here below they would have brought all to confusion above as also Christ had not been preserved his
almost the whole world believes the Soul was never generated but the breathings of the Spirit of God which are immortal and cannot dye Faith From the Revelation of Faith I say those conceited wise men which through the ambition of Tongues and Languages have studied beyond all sober sense or reason to make all the world senseless sots as to think when the Seed is conceived in the womb that then God must come and give it a Soul be it a Bastard or Free-born the child can have no Soul till God give it so that thou makest God not onely a partner but a perfecter of mans basâ— lust in that filthy act But however thy thoughts are unseal'd concerning God yet this I know that all Souls since the fall of Adam are but mortal natural and must dye in the body being generated to live together must dye together in that they are both guilty of sin cannot ascend but rot in the grave together as it is written The Soul of man shall be cut off from the Land of the Living and the Soul that sins shall dye and that the pure Soul of Christ was poured forth unto death and the Lord hath said that Adam and Eve were but dust and to dust they should return again also it is written That David is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us this day for David is not ascended into the Heavens Acts 2. c. Now what should ascend if not Davids Soul For it is written Not this body but such a body as pleaseth God to give it So not the body but the Soul thou sayest must ascend then know this Soul was in the dust and not ascended for David is not ascended as much as if it had been said Davids Soul is not ascended nor no Soul without a body can ascend and there can be no ascension till the Soul hath past through death it can never ascend to Eternal life Reason If the Soul at the hour of death did not ascend to glory or descend to misery how comes it then that John writes I sâ—w under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Rev. 6. 10. Word of God and for the Testimony which they held and they cryed with a loud voice saying How lâ—ng O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth So that surely John saw many Souls in Heaven cying unto the Lord to avenge their blood on their enemies otherwise he had not declared it Faith Thy ignorance hath been great as now it is in this as for thee to imagine that John saw Souls in Heaven without bodies and their spirits without face mouth and tongue should cry How long holy and true c. When a Soul without a face and tongue cannot be seen nor speak therefore I tell thee there is a greater Mystery in those words then thou art aware of for from my Seed spring I say it is no more then the blood of Abels which cryed unto the Lord from the ground and so doth all the blood of the Saints From the blood â—f Righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias and so to the end of our Commission Do cry O Lord holy and true why dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth This John saw by Revelation as Steven and Paul in another case did see the Heavens opened And so John saw a wonder in Heaven a Woman cloathed Rev. 12. â— with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and the 12 Stars upon her head Now when John saw this great wonder he was not in Heaven neither was this wonder done in Heaven but upon the earth so it was the blood of the Righteous Souls that were murthered in their bodies that John saw not in glory but upon this earth Now whereas thou art almost confident that at the hour of death the Souls go out of the body if so deal plainly with thy self and tell me whâ—â—â—t is like for surely the Soul must have some form â—â— sâ—ape and so cannot get out but it would be seen by some thâ—â— stâ—â—ds by for if a â—oul were of that form and fashion as White in his Chamber at Whithall shewed me the picture of a soul â—â— a Book a dark soul and a light soul in â—â—rm like a â—copeâ—ilâ— I say if the soul were as such wisâ— Head-pieces reports how comes it that it cannot be seen to gâ— out of the diseased For my part I have been at the death of some and yet could not discern any thing come frâ—m them but groans and flegm so that if thou with all thâ— seed were noâ— stone blinde thou wouldst clearly see the soul dyeth within the body for want of evaquation with the body Reason If iâ— be as thou sayest that all souls are dead in the dust and so become dust How or which way shall these souls be found out or raised at the last day Faith From the Lord of glory I speak it there is not any of thy seed that doth in the least understand how to answer this Argument therefore that Faith may be known to be Lord over thee and thy seed I declare that Christ Jesus being a quicâ—ning Spirit not onely as in relation to himself but all man kind as it is written The first man Adam was made a living Soul and the second man Adam was made a quickning Spirit I say his Soul being perfectly dead and buried in the grave yet in death he quickned himself to life without the help of any as in the second Chapter is clear so as it is written Your lâ—fe is hid in Christ with God so that when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear Col. 3. 3. 4. with him in glory therefore as he was able to qâ—icken his own Soul so at the general account he is far more able by the word of his mouth to quicken the Seed of Faith that now are dust to eternal glory also to quicken the seed of Reason to eternal misery yea and that from the first soul called Adam to the last soul dying he can and will in the twinkling of an eye raise all the Seed of Faith that hath layn so long in the dust to meet him in the Air with bodies sutable to their natures yea the very appearance of Christ who is all life will quicken that which is dead in the grave to hear his voice and immediately to come forth and meet him in the Air as it is written The hour is coming John 5. 28 in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice Reason That I understand is the raising of another body and not the soul for it is written it is sown a natural body and is raised a spiritual body so that I conceive it is not the soul but that body raised another that will be the work of the Lord at the day of Judgement
Holy Ghost a person though they are recorded in your Creed three persons and one God Yet by faith I say as I said before there never was is or shall be but one Personal God even Christ Jesus alone blessed for ever as onely those who believe my Revelation can with me understand Isa 43. 10 11. Luke 1 35 that the Holy Ghost was the Eternal Spirit or invisible Soul of Christ as it is written The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee yea that was the Holy Ghost or invisible Soul of Christ which dissolved into seed there dyed in the womb of Mary and quickned it self into a son of flesh blood and bone yea the Holy Ghost remained with him and in him all the time he was upon earth yea that was the Holy Ghost or Eternal Spirit that dyed in the grave for they signifie both one and the self same thing as it is written The Spirit of God descended upon him like a Dove so the Holy Ghost descended upon him like a Dove So that take it which way thou pleaseth the Holy Ghost or Eternal Spirit which is the Godhead Father vvas in no Person of its ovvn but the Person of Christ onely Reason From those Scriptures thou hast quoted I understand that the Holy Ghost vvas not in the person of Christ but in Heaven a Person of its own as it is clearly recorded and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Luk. 3. 21. and a voyce came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And so in the rest of the Evangelists it is written Thâ—t the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending lâ—ke a Dove and lighting upon him So that I do not deny but that the Spirit and the Holy Ghost is both one yet I cannot believe but that the Holy Ghost is in a form or shape of its own and that in Heaven when Christ was upon earth as it written The Holy Ghost dâ—scended from Heaven upon him And bâ—sides it is clear that Christ had a Father then in Heaven that sent the Holy Ghost and said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Faith In answer to this I shall unfold this deep secret which none of thy Seed can ever understand yet that it may be recorded for the blessed seed of faith that shall hereafter believe in our Commission I infallibly declare That there is a Holy Ghost as also a gift of the Holy Ghost Reason But before thou speakest of this I desire if thou canst remove this great stumbling block What Father this was that said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and if Elias as thou hast at large treaaed with me in the third Chapter then tell me by what Authority could Elias call Christ his beloved Son and why did Châ—ist make use of his Creature to call his Creator Son surely it cannot be Elias that should assume such a prerogative to call Christ Son but it must be God the Creator of all things that did call Christ his beloved Son otherwise Christ would never have so seriously and confidently hâ—ve called Elias his Father Faith As I have formerly said so I say again That herein consists the infiniteness of Eternity thaâ— he could become time yea so far deny and abase himself as to be protected by his Creature for as it is written In all things he became like unto us sin onely excepted not like unto the seed of reason but the seed of faith yea he was like unto his Prophets and Messengers in point of Commissioâ— for though Christ as he was God the Father gave all Commissions yet now from Elias he took a Commission himself and for that end and purpose before he took his journey in the flâ—sh as in the third Chapter I have declared wherefore he took up Elias that he might present the very place and authority of God as when God was there himself Elias being the Seed of his own body he could trust him when he could trust none of the Angels and therefore he took upon him the seed of Abraham and not the Heb 2. 16. nature of the Angels Now having taken him up into glory in that his time was nigh that he must fulfil his promise to the seed of Adam I say he commissionates Elias with Authority Power and Majestie like himself creating excepted to take care of Christ the onely God in this his difficult journey by which Authority Elias had full power to protect Christ in his infancy and confirm his Revelation both in Doctrine and Miracle and to call him his Son as Christ was to call Elias his God and Father as at his death he acknowledgeth Mark 16 34 35. Elias Elias my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Which some of them that stood by understanding his language said behold he calleth Elias which none but the true believers of our Commission can understand and therefore must perish for want of the true knowledge of this So that from the Revelation of faith I say herein was the infiniâ—e wisdom of the Godhead made manifest in Christs Humility that although he was the Creator yet he took upon him the form of a servant and in the place of his glory authorized his Creature Elias as a Father Though the Scripture intricately prove this yet who but the Elect of the Lord can believe this that Elias had power to send down gifts of the Holy Ghost in what form he pleased to commissionate Christ the giver of all Commissions and yet the Eternal Spirit or Holy Ghost was in the Person of Christ alone Reason Let me but ask thee this once and I shâ—ll trouble thee no longer that is let me hear thee discover thy thoughts betwixt the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Holy â—host whether it be a Person of its own or onely in the Person of Christ alone Faith As I said before so I say again That if the Holy Ghost had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life then its Person must be in the form of a man suitable to the person of Christ in that it is the very nature of Christ so every Nature hath its own form so the form of Christ but that which descended upon Christ was not the Holy Ghost but the gift of the Holy Ghost for as I have said before Christ who had the Holy Ghost in him invested the gift thereof upon Elias that so Elias might protect and preserve Christ in his non-age as aforesaid so that I say the essence of the Holy Ghost is inherent in Christ alone from whence the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost flows for by my Revelation I know that when Christ ascended to his Majestie on high he sate down on the right hand which signifies that Elias's power and authority
was surrendred into the Person of Christ alone so that after that all the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost came from Christ as it is written when Christ was ascended to glory then he fills the Apostles full of the Holâ— Ghost which then appeared in the form of a Cloven Tongue and not in the form of a Dove So that it is clear though the Holy Ghost be one intire Divine invisible life in Christ yet take notice the gifts thereof are divers so that the gifts of the Holy Ghost hah various forms though the Holy â—host hath no form but man and that Christ alonâ— And therefore minde the gross darkness of all thy Seed in their Creeds as though the Holy â—host had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life when it is written in divers places That Christ is the way the truth and the life I am that bread of life he that believeth on me hath everlasting John 4. life and in his saying to the woman of Samaria But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life So that the Holy Ghost must needs be in Christ in that Christ is the giver of life and yet such blinde reason as thee will have the Holy Ghost in a Person distinct from Christ the Lord and giver of life when to thy shame thou heareâ—t that Christ alone John 11. 25. is the Resurrection and the Life insomuch that he that believeth in Christ though he were dead yet shall he live So thus much in confutation to the authors and believers of of those Creeds Yea from the Revelation of my Faith I infallibly against Angels and all thy Seed of Reason conclude â—hat so many of them so living and so dying in the belief thereof shall with thee perish eternally Yea in the Vertue of our Commission I say there is no God that can or will deliver thee or them to all Eternity A DIVINE PROSPECT FOr the Elect of the Lord that after our departure shall come to the belief of this our last Commission though ye knew us not in our life time yet you have the Revelation of faith left upon record by which you will be supported in believing John Reeve and Lodowick Mugglton the last Commissioners that ever shall appear in Reasons Kingdom as also that I am the onely Bishop or Messenger in Revelation bearing witness against all Gain sayers to the truth of this Spiritual Commission now in being and so to remain till time be no more on this side of death then and at which day it shall be made manifest that we and onely we were the last Messengers of Jesus Christ who at the day of Resurrection shall ascend to glory in the publique view of our Enemies as also all other believers who credited our report not weighing their lives unto death Which when we and all that knew us are in silent dust then I say our Revelation will be in great esteem bâ— the next generation of faith succeeding And therefore that there may be no division among you from the Lord of Glory I reminde you of these enâ—uing Propositions they being a breviate of all the chief heads that my Revelation hath reduced from the Commission 1. You are to believe There was to be three Commissions before the end of this world thus recorded The Spirit Water and Blood and these are the three that beareth witness upon earth 1 John 5. 8. 2. It is to be believed That a Commission is given forth by laudible voyce of words to the hearing of the ear from the mouth of the Lord Jesus in the highest Heavens 3. It is to be believed That who ever pretends a Commission not being one of these are real whimsies notions yea lies and no truth 4. It is to be believed That though a Commission consist of few words without encrease yet their Revelations are various and encreaseth daily 5. It is to be observed That the two last Commissions are not to offend or defend in point of Externals but either active or passive to yield due obedience to King Governor or any other Magistrate whatsoever 6. It is to be believed That no Commission ought to be obedient to any formal Dispensation but in their time or place hath power to curse either Angel or man that in opposition thereof shall hold forth other Doctrine 7. It is to be believed That neither of the two former Commissions was to understand what God in his Form and Nature was in the Creation as this our Commission doth 8. It is to be believed That our Commission alone doth understand how this God and Father after intelligence given to Mary by the Angel descended from heaven as swift as thought into the womb of Mary and there dissolved his immortal body into seed and from thence quickned himself into a mortal body of flesh blood and bone so called a Son 9. It is to be believed That the Eternal Father now become a Son had the Supreme power within him that quickned his Godhead being perfectly dead in the grave to life again without the help of either Father God or Spirit without him whatsoever 10. It is to be believed That the Prophet Elias in his transmutation that nature of faith in him became a chariot of fire so struck out the gross Elements viz. Water Earth and Aire and in that fiery faith of his own ascended to glory to represent the Person of God while he took his journey in the flesh 11. Also it is to be believed That our Commission alone in the Revelation thereof hath the true knowledge of these things as also what the form and nature of the Angels are of what they were created and wherefore created and what was the cause of the Angelical fall above the rest and why and wherefore he was cast into this world in the presence of Adam and Eve 12. It is to be believed that never any but our Commission knew that it was that said Angel that in his whole form entred the womb of Eve and there dissolved into Seed and conceived into flesh blood and bone by which Eve was deceived so called a Beast Serpent Tree of Knowledge of good and evil that so none of that Seed might understand what it was and how it was Eve was deceived 13. It is to be understood That none but our Commission knows that this dissolution of the Angel in the womb of Eve became Cain the first Devil and Father of all the damned 14. It is to be believed That there never was is or shall be any other Devil but men and women and that for the most part he is the comeliest of all other of that form 15. It is to be believed That none but our Commission knows that the souls of both Faith and Reason are mortal ever since the fall of Adam and shall dye and rot in the grave till the day of Resurrection and that
though dead five thousand three hundred years ago yet at the day of our glorious Gods appearance each seed or soul shall arise with bodies suitable to their natures that soul or seed of faith that believed in our Commission shall ascend to meet its Saviour in the ayre and that soul or seed of Reason that despised our Commission shall arise a spiritual body upon this earth tormented to all Eternity 16. It is to be believed That the Kingdom of glory where Christ the onely God his Elect Saints and Angel doth and shall inhabit to all eternity is non-globical where God and his mighty Angels can at their pleasure with their bodies fly as swift as thought ten thousand miles in a moment and when he pleaseth God can stand sit lie in as narrow a compass as my self for none but our Revelation knows that there is an immortal Earth Sea Fish Fouls Beasts Hearbs Trees yea all things immortal glorious there as they are mortal deformed here and all this for the contemplation of God his Elect Saints and Angels to whom let all ye that have or shall have belief in our Commission so living and so dying in the truth of our Revelation sing praise glory and honour that ye shall see and enjoy what now ye do believe as touching our Commission 17. It is to be believed that certain men and women have and will seeingly come to the belief of our Commission insomuch that they have rejoyced in it contended for it yea have said they desired to depart this life in the belief of it and yet being according to birth the seed of Reason and not the seed of Faith in time of persecution riches glory and honour of this world fell away to their eternal perdition as I could name some but wo wo for as sure as Christ is God they shall never see that glorious Kingdom aforesaid 18. And lastly it is seriously by you to be observed That by believing the truth of what I write you will finde great satisfaction when I am taken from you that as this is the last Commission so the the the truth yea the onely truth that shall remain to the end of this bloody unbelieving world to reminde you of this one thing that it is not to be expected many to come to believe a Commission as to a notional dispensation for in the two former Commissions they cryed out Two of a Tribe one of a City so few in their Commissions that the Prophet Elâ—jah said I even I onely am left and they seek my life to take it aâ—ay and then saith Isaiah Who hath belâ—eved â—ur report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed So few that in the time of Christ at his sayings they were so hard to be understood that there fell away 70 at one time nay none stuck to him but the Apostles and a few more And then in the second Commission there was so few that really believed that sometimes Paul had but two or three stood by him in the faith And now in this our last they are so few that they are not worth the numbering among the multitude of notional Churches and therefore forget not that saying of Christ Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it But herein comfort your selves that those few of you that really enters in shall feel yea see and behold your God face to face yea sing out triumphing voyces of joy with eternal harmonies of divine musick for ever yea for ever in that glorious Kingdom aforesaid prepared for Christ your God and you his Elect Saints with the Elected Angels world without end so that ye shall sit stand lie walk go flie at your pleasure having nothing to say but glory here is the height of glory in the presence of our Saviour yea an endless glory without end These twenty particulars underneath asserted in the Quakers Downfal by Scripture proved and in that Revelation infallibly confirmed that Law Claxton the onely Bishop and true Messenger of our last Commission doth in the death of his soul seal them a real truth in confutation to the Quakers blinde Reasons imagination which are as followeth 1. That faith shall dye in the heel and reason in the head 2. That the Angel did descend into the womb of Eve 3. That a spirit cannot live without a body p 28. 4. That we and our God are cursed to all eternity p. 28. 5. That Christ or God is above the Stars with a body of flesh and bones 6. That God that Christ said was a spirit the meaning of his Revelation was that his invisible soul was that God or spirit abiding onely in his person p. â—9 7. Thaâ—â—eason is the seed of the Serpent 8. That by faith reason shall be kept in eternal death 9. That God gave Faith â—easâ—n and Sense but onâ—e 10. And that Faith Reason and Sense have in all generated in its kinde form and nature as in p 40. 11 That the Devâ—ls Kingdom and Reasons Kingdom are one 12. That God doth damn as well as save and that not for any evil thing done as he hath asserted in p. 58. 13. That we acknowledge no other God but what was within us 14. And that we conceive this God was an infinite nothing and so made all things of nothing 15. That the light in us is darkness 16. That an Infinite Spirit without a body is nothing 17. That we say God hath no form 18. That all the time Paul was cloathed with a corrupt persecuting spirit he was a vessel of honour in the account of God 19. That God is all Faith and no Reason and that Reason is of the Nature of the Devil p. 31. 20. That it was the wisdom of the flesh that made a chief Magistrate as in p. 36. In the next place I return as the Majestie of Christ the onely God in condemnation of your Diabolical perjâ—red lies against the holy Spirit of the nature of the most high God now revealed in us his last powerful infallible Prophets and Messengers of his eternal Majestie in the highest Heavens brought upon record in our Revelation as in your Reasons libel verbatim are asserted by that son of perdition J. Harwood 1. L. C. said He would prove God to be a man flesh and bones as we are Now ye the Believers of our Commission take notice that of which of these twelve particulars before quoted you by my pen finde silence we own as eternal truth but the rest that I set my pen against was not our words but Reason the Devil-lying imagination by those aforesaid Quakers as do but observe and thou mayest discern how I binde them hand and foot from their supposed light yet real darkness as seriously minde the first forged lie 3. L. C. said He had nothing of God in him and many other places nought of God in him Answ That you the blessed of the Lord may know
A PARADISICAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT FAITH and REASON DISPUTING The high mysterious Secrets of Eternity the like never extant in our Revelation As touching God in Eternity how he became time in flesh and how he dyed in the grave and ascended to his glory again ALSO What the Angels are in form and nature and how the Angel became a Devil and that Devil man and that this World was prepared for the Devil so this the Devils Kingdom and what the Soul is with the place of its glory and torment With a brief Narration what a Commission is and how many Commissions there are what the difference of their worships and how that the Law was given to the Devil with a brief discourse on the Catechism the Lords Prayer and the Creeds as also a Divine Prospect to the Elect of the Lord. Written by Law Claxton the onely true Bishop and faithful Messenger of Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by William Learner at the Blackmoor near Fleet-bridge 1660. INDEX Chap. 1. SHewing whether God be a Spirit without á body or that God is a body of flesh and bone glorified Chap. 2. Shewing whether the Father became not a Son which Son was Christ and by death became a Father to all Eternity now in heaven glorified Chap. 3. Shewing Christ is the onely God and Father Creator of Heaven and earth now it is to be revealed what God and Father that was and where he was that Christ so often called upon when he was upon earth Chap. 4. Shewing whether the Angels were the first that God created and of what he created them with their nature and form and what was the cause of the Angels fall above all the rest Chap. 5. Shewing whether this World was before the Angels or no and whether this World was made of something or nothing and how it came into form and being and whether it shall for ever thus remain Chap. 6. Shewing of what matter Adams body was created and what was his nature soul or spirit and by what means he came to lose that estate he was created in Chap. 7. Shewing who it was that tempted Eve and Adam whether it was the Angel aforesaid and if so why is he called a Serpent Beast or Tree c. and how and which way they were deceived and what effect it hath ever since produced Chap. 8. Shewing whether Cain was not the first Devil and who are his seed or children and what Devils those were so frequently spoken of in Scripture Chap. 9. Shewing what the soul is and what it is that dyes how that it is none but the soul which is the life of the body that can dye Chap. 10. Shewing what Heaven is and how many heavens there are what the nature and form thereof Chap. 11. Shewing what Hell is and where it is what the form and nature of its torment Chap. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operations thereof Chap. 13. Shewing what the Law is at large and in short and whether any can keep the Law and when he is said to keep the Law and when not Chap. 14. Shewing whether that prayer doth not belong to all and whether by prayer we may come to the knowledge of God and whether it is our duty to make use of the Lords prayer Chap. 15. Shewing whether there be any truth in the faith of the Church of England expressed in the Creeds or Articles recorded Chap. 16. Shewing in eighteen Propositions the invincible mighty great Authority that is intrusted with a Divine Commissioner Also an eternal whip or scourge for the Quakers for belying the Holy Ghost A PARADISTICAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT Faith and Reason Disputing the high Mysterious Secrets of Eternity the like never yet extant in our Revelation CHAP. 1. Shewing whether God be a Spirit without a body or that God is a body of flesh and bone glorified Reason FRiend having such a convenient opportunity to have some conference with you my request is to know your judgement as touching the true God and that the more in this distracted age There are so many opinions concerning him That some holds him forth an Infinite Spirit c. others say Though God be a Spirit yet there are three Persons in the Godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and these three are one God the same in Substance equal in Power and Glory Now if thou please let me hear what thy judgement is of God Almighty Faith Notwithstanding this hodg-podg it matters not me what thou or all the wise men of the world hold For from the Spirit of Revelation I infallibly against men and Angels affirm That God the Creator of Heaven and earth is in the Person and Form of a man Reason How is it possible that God the Creator of all forms should admit of a form of his own Faith I say unless that Divine heavenly Faith or Nature had a Form or Person of his own he could not have created man after his own form image or likeness Reason Yea I grant God created man after his own image in righteousness and holiness but no otherwise Faith Ah pitiful Soul how thy riches choaks thee and thy wisdom blindes thee from believing in the true God that thou shouldst conceive that righteousness or holiness can be created without a form or didst thou ever read or hear of any holiness in any other creature but man onely so that thou canst not say this or that is holiness without a form and that the form of man above Reason What necessity or what ground can be shown that God who is the Creator of all forms should admit of a form of his own Faith It was the greatest ground of all for if God had not a form of his own it had been in vain to create either Angel or man in his form and that because he created them to behold his glorious person Reason Why cannot the glory of God be seen unless he admit of a Person and what matter of glory can be delighted onely in a single Person for I conceive him more glorious when he is a Spirit without a bosty for then he can fill Heaven and Earth wiâ—h his glory and every creature that he hath made then beholds iâ— in that they enjoy part of it Faith I say no glory can be seen without a Personal Substance nay it cannot bear the title of glory without a body for the glorious Spirit that ever was if it had not a body were nothing at all in that a Spirit cannot be seen so no delight in that which is not for what delight could man have with his wife if she had no person And whereas thou sayest God having a Person cannot fill Heaven and earth with his glory I say without his Person he could fill nothing at all As for instance what glory can there be in a
have seen in my own Soul as the Tide doth ebbe and flow into the Ocean so doth the Revelation of Faith ascend and descend beholding the glorious throne of Eternity with unspeakable raptures not utterable by pen or tongue Reason I cannot understand how God being a person and yet a Fountain of endless Glory should fill heaven and earth in that a person is finite in one place and heaven and earth is large so that if Gods glory be in every place then there his person must be also Faith Dost thou not see in nature that one fountain doth supply many families how much more then can the Etetnal Fountain supply many Souls with that heavenly divine water and yet from his single person in heaven glorified and as that fountain from Ware is directed to supply the necessity of London and yet the head spring keeps its place so doth the fountain of Eternal glory retain it self in its being and yet fills heaven and earth with its streams of glory Reason Thou sayest God is onely in heaven and yet it is written the heaven of heavens cannot contain God he is of such a large infinite vastness and spiritual bulk or bigness that not onely heaven but earth also must be his habitation and therefore it is written that with a humble and contrite spirit God will dwell And again it is written Heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool And the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof So that I believe God is not onely in heaven but earth also so that from these and many other places I judge thou limitest the unlimited God and so makest him that is infinite in heaven and earth to be finite onely in heaven and that in one single person of his own Faith Thou takest upon thee to prove thy reason by Scripture when Scripture were never written for thee neither doth it belong to thee as in its place thou shalt hear and therefore have patience and I shall interpret the meaning of those Scriptures First thou sayest the heaven of heavens cannot contain 1 Kings 8. 27. God and yet it is written whom the heavens must receive till the restitution of all things Now when Faith comcompares Acts 3. 2â— these two together it knows the truth of one from the other for when I consider Solomon endued with thy wisdom that he spake those words not experimentally but dubiously as minde the 27 verse and then peruse that chapter and thou shalt finde it in three several places recorded thus And hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place how should heaven be Gods dwelling-place if the heaven of heavens cannot contain him So that in truth those words of the Apostles who were endued with the spirit of revelation is to be believed when Solomons cannot in that he spake not by revelation but from the intricate promise of God to his father David And in the same chapter he acknowledgeth Gods dwelling-place to be in heaven and not in the temple and where it is written with an humble and contrite heart God will dwell is not there intended God will dwell in my heart by his person but by faith as it is written that Christ Eph. 3 1â— may dwell in your hearts by faith c. as minde the words of the Prophet Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place by my person there I dwell and by my faith in an humble heart and where it is written Heaven is my throne and Psal 24. 1. the earth is my footstool do still confirm that God hath a body otherwise what should he do with a throne or a footstool But now to convince thee that it is not to be understood this earth but that glorious earth above the stars where God when he pleaseth doth stand as firm in as narrow a compass as I do upon this earth And that the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof is not by me denied but that it is the Lords by creation and not by his personal habitation For God by his person is not in this world but by his Law or powerful word of creation therefore saith David Whom have I in heaven but thee So that it is no limitation but his infiniteness to be in heaven and not in this earth at all Reason Notwithstanding all this I cannot understand how God should be in the person or form of a man but there must be some other above him that must create God in that form Faith Though thou canst not understand yet to me it is revealed that God without beginning had a form and none but Divine Nature did create himself Creator and yet he knew not how he came to have his being Reason O admiration what shall I say of thee that God should not know how he came to be God by this thou makest God finite yea ignorant of things past and to come Faith Say what thou pleasest yet this I will tell thee that it is the nature of inâ—â—niteness not to know it self for that which knows things past present and to come is not infinite but finite in that there is an end of any further knowledge but the infiniteness is to know no beginning nor no ending for if he had known how he came in being then he would know his ending and so in process of time cease to be God Eternal Reason I have read in Revelation 1. that it is written I am Alpha Rev. 1. 8. and Omega the beginning and the ending whâ—ch is which was and which is to come the Almighty so that from hence I understand that God had a beginning and knew how he came to have his being Faith Thou hast read but dost not understand what thou readest as observe it is not there intended I am the beginning and ending of my self but this is the meaning I am the beginning and end of the Creation so that without me the world with all creatures therein had no beginning nor no ending without me as unto this I am Alpha and Omega and neither the beginning or ending of this world is hid from me for by my knowledge it came in being and so must have its ending but as unto infiniteness or eternity It is without beginning or ending of dayes and the not knowing either its beginning or ending is that which makes it eternal and yet there is nothing done but what flowes in the glorious body of God Reason Notwithstanding this I am not satisfied that God admits of a Form but a Spirit onely for it is written God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and John 4. Truth and then it is written Feel me a spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have So that it is clear God is a Spirit without flesh and bone so an infinite Spirit onely Faith As God is a Spirit so man is a
pierce through her secrets as thou sayest in a moment and yet not be seen by any nor she stand amazed yea trembling in fear at so sudden appearance and dissolution of this svvift motional substance into her body for my part I cannot understand it neither vvill Scripture prove it so cannot believe it Faith Well may his dissolution into the vvomb cause admiration vvhen at his birth vvhich vvas no strange thing there should be such a multitude of Heavenly Host rejoicing vvith such Heavenly Harmonies that the Shepherd vvere amazed vvith fear yea a vvonder it vvas to them that heard of it far and near vvhich if there had not been a conception more than ordinary the birth of that conception had not caused such astonishment round about but novv God vvas become a Child yea Eternity become time and for a season to dvvell among his Creation and therefore if thou knevv that the body of God vâ—â—s of a bright glorious Chrystal soft thin transparent substance swifter than thought who at his Divine pleasure can transmute himself as high or as low and into as a straight a passage as can be thought on then thou wouldst cease reasoning and believe what I speak to thee that the body of God consisting of such Divine Spiritual and Heavenly matter as aforesaid could without the sight of any descend from Heaven to Mary And why or wherefore should she be amazed when she had tidings of what should be before Neither was his dissolution any prejudice at all to her but raptures of joy springing up in her Soul to her Eternal comfort Reason What then was all the God that created Heaven and Earth in the womb of Mary and was that the very God that was born in a Manger that was swadled suckled and dandled upon the knees and carried up and down the Countrey in the Armes of his Mother was this God the Father that created all things that now hath life in them that once could not go nor feed himself but be led and fed by its creature As unto this answer me plainly and really what is thy thought on this great mysterious Mystery Faith From the Spirit of Revelation I tell thee that was the very God that the Wise Men went to worship and that Herod did seek to kill was the very Godhead Spirit or Life of that Christ Jesus so that Pauls Revelation told him The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christs body and God Col. 2. 9. was in Christ reconciling the world with many such places and therefore the words that Christ spake was Spirit and Joh 8. 24. Life and again saith Christ Exept ye believe that I am he ye shall dye in your sins So that if the Eternal Godhead had not sprung up this Revelation he could not have uttered those sayings as his own Reason However thou hast quoted some certain places that confirm what thou sayest yet I cannot find but all along as I read God and Christ is two and not one so that there was a God in Heaven when Christ was upon earth and me thinks it is contrary to reason that God which created all Creatures should walk talk eat and drink with them and be affronted by them and as it were have his livelyhood by them that he created Faith Well Friend think of it what thou pleasest yet this I 'le assure thee that God and Christ is not two but one For what necessity was there for God to have a Son Surely if it were as thou sayest either God was in process of time to dye and so make his Son Heir or else he wanted a Companion to keep him Company if not so then the world was too great and so got a Son to assist him yet however I tell thee there never was but one God And surely then he that died for us must save us and if Christ be our Saviour then he must be our Creator and yet what striving here is for two Gods when in the beginning of Moses and the Prophets we read but of One as it is written Isaiah 4. 10 11. Before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour and then confirms it saying Neither is there Salvation in â—8s 4. 12. any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must saved and yet what a flutter thy seed makes about God and Christ so two Gods as though one God should Create and the other God should Save O for shame leave off these things and be silent in thy ignorance for thy seed is so various that some of you will have God a Spirit and Christ the Son a Person and others of you will have three persons and one God and the rest will have no Person at all but an infinite formless Spirit so that from my Revelation I tell thee and all thy seed with thee as by the Prophet Isaiah is proved there never was no God formed before Christ nor never shall be atfer him yet this I know there is three titles but one person which person ever was is and shall be Christ Jesus alone for Christ had the title of God the Father in the Law and the title of God the Son in the Gospel and now God the holy Ghost in this our last commission to which is onely revealed that Christ Jesus is the onely God Reason Then tell me what was that which died in Christ when he was crucified and said now it is finished and gave up the Ghost Faith That was he gave up his Soul to death which Soul was the Eternal Spirit or Godhead Father and therefore it is written He poured out his Soul to death and was offered Heb. 9 14. through the Eternal Spirit So died in mortality and was buried in the grave which Soul Spirit or Godhead in the twinkling of an eye quickned to immortality or spiritual form again Reason If the Creator of Heaven and Earth was that which died in Christ so that the God of all life being then become death How came he or by what means could he be quickned or raised to glory again Faith Yea it was the Soul Spirit that died and was perfectly dead that gave life to all and that life that died in a moment did quicken it self by its ever living Word of Faith spoken before his death that raised him to life saying Joh. 10. 18 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again there being no let or doubt in Faith that could hinder it what it had purpose to do Reason Was all the Power that created Heaven and Earth dead and buried at the very same moment and no power left without Christ to quicken that which was dead within the body of Christ Jesus Faith No more than is in a grain of Wheat and yet that dies and in season quickens again so that there
created them of that dust without or above this visible heaven yea I say by his word speaking unto that spiritual dust aforesaid there came forth an innumerable Angelical Host in persons or forms like men and not bodiless spirits as thy seed vainly affirm and the nature of their Angelical Spirits are pure reason onely Reason And was the fallen Angel created of the same matter as the other were and had that Angel the same form and nature as the rest of the Angels had if so why did not he sâ—and with the rest or the whole host of the Angels fall with him Faith I affirm that Serpent-Angel was created of the same matter and had the same form and nature yet was more wise or God-like in his creation than all the elect Angels of glory I say why he could not stand with the rest was the Creator fore-knowing that his Prerogative Royal would compel or move him to create this Angelical Reprobate in reference to his divine justice so that for the manifestation of his most glorious power unto elect men and angels his wisdom saw it most fit to endue this angel with more piercing rational wisdom and brightness of person than all his Angelical companions and that because he was decreed to the greatest shame and pain and not onely so but because the elect Angels should admire their Creators wisdom and power when they should see the out-cast condition of the highest created glory and themselves be filled with new declarations of honor praise and glory unto the Divine Majesty for his free electing love towards them through which they were ensured eternally to reign in their created purity This and no other was the cause why this Angel should fall from the rest Reason I have read as it is thus written That God spared not the 2 Pet. 2. 4. Angels but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgement so that I believe there was more then one in that the Scripture speaks in the plural and not the singular viz. Angels and not Angel Faith I infallibly affirm there was but onely one Reprobate Angel created at first for know this as there was but one man Adam cast out of his heavenly Paradise of created purity in soul and body as also all his seed or generation were cast out of their spiritual peace with him so likewise there was but one angelical Serpent cast from his rational created purity and that was the Serpent-devil which deceived Eve Now the Angels which were cast out with him were of his seed or generation through his union with the intrals of Eve where he had this world prepared for him and his generation Reason And was there no other way to manifest the greatness of his glory but by creating a seed or generation against himself and his seed that so he might damn one and save the other or what prejudice had it been for his Divine Majesty to have formed all in nature like himself as well as in form so that all might have enjoyed eternal happiness Faith I say there was no other way to manifest his divine excellencies unto angel or man but what he hath done if there had I am confident he would never have created any thing on purpose for eternal sufferings and that the more thou mayest think the wise Creator would never have suffered any creature to become rebellious against himself for the occasioning of such strange transactions in this world and suffering both of himself angel and man I say if he could have possessed his infinite glory in creating of every thing unto eternal pleasure Reason Why who was besides himself that should let or hinder what he had a mind to do but he might form all of the nature of himself as aforesaid Faith It is true though there was none besides himself yet I say that the Creators Royal Will and Pleasure was that glorious wheel that moved him to create or form any creature at all and sure I am it was unpossible for God to create the spirits of angels and men to be both of the nature of his own spirit or either of them to be of his divine nature then would the variety of his wisdom power and glory been all lost for want of distinction Moreover if angels and men had been both of Gods divine nature in their creation then in stead of their being capable to be transmuted into a higher or lower condition at the divine pleasure of the Creator would they not rather have been unchangable Creators then changable creatures therefore that God might impede all that might prevent his divine purpose he created the bodies of the angels spiritual and their spirits rational and he made the body of the man Adam natural and his soul spiritual and the cause was this that if their spirits and bodies had both been of the divine nature then it had been unpossible for them to change or commit any evil no more then the Creator himself where then had been all the wonderful transactions of his glorious Majesty or what had been formed in stead of creatures but Creators onely Reason How or which way came the angels forth living creatures if that life that brought forth their forms had not been in God so came forth from God infused into them as it was into Adam Faith Though the angels came forth living bodies in the forms of men yet that life was not in God nor of the nature of God but onely a created light of sensible life of divine joys proceeding from the eternal spirit by vertue of a word speaking through his heavenly mouth unto those elements aforesaid for I say that the uncreated essence or Godhead-spirit of an infinite Majesty was utterly uncapable to be conveyed unto finite created being for infiniteness is onely capable of its own glorious center and after the angels were formed into living bodies the divine Majesty and those created beings were become distinct in their essences for everlasting also the angels by apparant sight of their Creators face might know themselves to be but creatures yea subject to the divine pleasure of God that made them Reason I all along judged Gods nature to be pure reason and the angels nature the same and if not of the nature of God how or by what means came they obedient to the commands of God Faith Whatever thou hast judged of Gods nature thou art altogether mistaken for the nature of God is all-divine heavenly Faith and therefore the nature of the angels was and are of a contrary seed subject to mutability for the angels spirits are pure reason onely And what is the purest reason is it any thing else but all pure desires and what is the original of the most purest and perfects desire is it not a want of something that is desired or a kinde of unsatisfaction until its desire be satisfied from something that is not inherent in it self
wisdom and Angelical person that bewitched Eves innocent Soul to hearken to him and her eyes to dote upon him for let but moderate Reason guide thee and thou maist see it must be a person more wise and comely than Adam to deceive her and therefore it is written When the Woman Gen 3 6. saw the Tree it was good for food pleasant to the eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and she did eat and also gave to her Husband and he did eat Reason Well then suppose it be granted it was the Angel that deceived her by words What is then supposed by eating And she saw it was good food and did eat So that the words of the Angel might entice her But what was that she did eat Faith That is when the innocent Soul of Eve was over-poured by the Serpents subtile Language her spirit did consent unto him to come in to her and take full possession of her to be her God and guide instead of her Creator Now by the word eating of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil from the Lord of ever-living Faith I say that the Creator called it eating First Because none of thy seed should know the Lords secrets until it was his pleasure he would receive honour by it Secondly The Spirit of God called it eating because of the civility of the Speech for the Scripture Language is much like a modest pure Virgin which is loath to have her secret parts mentioned in the least Thirdly That she might beware how she hearkned to any voice that was contrary to the voice of the Seed of God in her so that if she should hear the voice of a stranger she should not give away as many a Virgin since hath been deluded So that I say this Angelical person entered into her womb through her secret parts and being united to her Soul and body his Serpentine nature dissolved it self into her pure Seed and defiled her throughout and so became essentially one with her through which she naturally conceived a Serpent Dragon Devil into a man-child of flesh blood and bone and brought forth her first begotten son of the Devil yea the Dragon Devil himself and called his Name according to his nature Cain or cursed though ignorantly she said that she had received a man from the Lord just so on the contrary the womb of the Virgin wife Mary was honoured with the Angelical God himself through which her polluted nature was not onely cleansed while he was in her womb but also by the vertue of the Divine power she was inhabited to conceive his glorious Majesty of her Seed into a holy Babe of unspotted flesh blood and bone and in his season to bring forth her first begotten Son of God yea the true God and everlasting Father himself and called his Name according to his Nature Emanuel Jesus or Blessed as at large is disputed in the second Chapter Reason Thou sayest eating was admitting the Angels person into her body if the Angel was of as large a compass as I am how was it possible and where do we read that God cursed the Angel and how can it be proved that Angel was the first Devil Faith As Christ said unto Nicodemus so say I unto thee though the body of the Angelical Serpent in its length or breadth was as a man is yet I know it was not of so gross a substance as mans is for it was a spiritual body created in another World for though the bodies of the mighty Angels are in forms like men yet I know they shine like unto the Sun or a flame of fire being formed in a Region of a more higher nature than this therefore they are of motion as as swift as thought and of a pure thin or bright fiery nature so that with great ease they pierce through a narrow passage at the Divine pleasure of the Creator Reason Were it so as thou savest What harm or defilement could this be to her Soul or body he being a person so glorious I conceive it should rather endue her with more knowledge than before Faith Though the Angel was glorious in person yet his nature was corrupt in comparison of hers even as that blood which is defiled vvith the Pox or Gangreen Novv this man to enter the body of a vvoman vvhose blood is pure and free from any corrupt distemper Is it not a defilement to her body Even so his Serpentâ—ne Reason dissolved it self into her pure Seed of Faith and became essentially one vvith her through vvhich she vvas Soul and body deâ—â—ed throughout by vvhich she lost her Divine satisfaction and Heavenly Peace that formerly she enjoyed in her ovvn Soul Reason Hovv vvill this stand agreeable to Scripture vvhen thou sayest it vvas an Angel that deceived Eve and the Letter saith it was a Serpent And besides it is written God cursed not the Angel but the Serpent What then dost thou say the Angel was the Serpent And if so what glory was there in a Serpent And where was the Angel or Serpent when cursed Faith Though I have told thee of this before yet now I tell thee again he was called a Serpent as unto the subtility of his nature or seed and that Serpentine Angelical form that by enticing words did deceive her was wholly dissolved into seed in her womb when the Eternal curse was passed upon him Reason If the Angelical person was in the body of Eve when he received his curse How then could he be capable of understanding a Sentence denounced against him being in the womb and changed from his former condition as thou hast revealed Faith The curse denounced by the Creator upon the Serpent in the womb of Eve was not for his satisfaction in the least but to convince Eve of her deceived thoughts of possessing such God-like happiness promised to her by the Angel also it was to convince her of doting of her first born but instead of rejoicing in him at his birth her Soul would not only loath his company but would also cast him out of her presence least he should murther her as he did his Brother Abel for her tender compassion towards him Furthermore it was spoken for her Divine satisfaction when the light of Redemption should shine in her deceived Soul and shew her that her first-born son was not from the Lord but the Angelical Serpent cursed in her womb by the Creator Reason Why should the Serpent and his generation undergo an eternal curse and Eve and her generation suffer but an external curse seeing she rebelled against a greater light than the Angel Faith I know she was utterly uncapable of eternal curse for these considerations First Because her Soul proceeded from a Heavenly Nature of Eternal Majesty himself Secondly Because that consent in her to evil proceeded not from her own nature but the unclean spirit of the Serpent speaking into her innocent Soul
like a sloathful servant hath hid thy talent in the letter of the Apostles so that when death summons thee to give an account of thy Stewardship then thou begins to trim up thy lamp and findes therein no oyl and then cryeth unto the wise Virgins that is the wisdom of faith Give us of your oyl for our lamps are gone out but then all in vain will thy doleful cries be for the Scriptures cannot help thee nor we cannot help thee and therefore thou must go to thy Prayers thy Preaching and Pharisaical Righteousness to buy thy salvation and they can do thee no good so that now thou mayest see how thou hast deluded â—hy soul with anothers Commission so that now those small hopes of comfort shall be taken from thee which then the Scripture will condemn thee and our Commission keep thee in utter darkness without end But as some of the high flown of thy Seed endued with a notional light above their fellows have replied and said That they will believe no report of man but onely wait upon God for the teachings of his Spirit supposing thereby to finde eternal satisfaction without the revealed report of his Messenger at all and that because they finde a saying to that purposâ— as it is written The Anointing which ye have received 1 John 2. 27. of him abideth in you and ye need not any man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things and in another place Ye shall not need every man to teach his neighbor for ye shall all know the Lord from the least to the greatest Now there is not any of thy Seed that understandeâ—h these sayings were fulfilled in the days of the Apostles as is confirmed by Peter saying This was that which was oâ—â— 2 27 28. spoken by the Prophet Joel c. that God would send the Comforter which did fill them full of the Holy Ghost as there at large is recorded but however thou canst not believe this yet in Revelation I tell thee That if any such ever finde eternal happiness it must be from the Commissioners of God as from the mouth of Moses they received the Law and by the Prophets the Rulers of Israel heard the Word of the Lord and so in the two Commissions of the Apostles it is written How shall they call on him in whom they Rom. 10. 14 15 16. have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard aâ—d how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent So that faith in the true God comes by hearing the report of his true Messengers and without them how shall we ever know or come to God for I infallibly declare That the Messengers of every Commissâ—on hath the word of Reconcâ—liation 2 Cor 5. 19 20. 2 Cor. 2. 14. Salvation or Damnation committed to them as it is written We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us so that we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God for he maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place So that against all thy Seed I affirm Whoever pretends to wait upon God without the report of his Messengers that are sent by laudable voyce of words they know not the true God nor shall ever see the face of God at all and therefore take notice the onely Messenger of God told thee so Fourthly and lastly I say Though the Scripture doth not belong to thee yet the Law doth onely belong to thee and thy Seed for had it not been for thy Seed of Reason their had been no need of a Law given but because of the enmity of thy Seed against the Seed of the Woman the Law was revealed to Moses and by Moses given to the people of Israel in consideration there was a mixture of Seeds which caused divisions and rebellion against the contrary Seed viz. Moses and that Generation therefore that obedience might be required of them by the grand Commissioners to that end the Law was given to the universal body of Israel that all Israel that was according to the flesh and not the Spirit might be made subject by the Law that so upon their transgression they might receive the penalty of the Law and therefore it is written The Law is not made for a righteous 1 Tâ—m 1. 9 man but for the lawless and disoâ—edient for the ungodly and such like which none of the Seed of faith once called are guilty of but it is the daily practice of thy Seed Reason the Devil and therefore the Law was given to the Devil which thou mayest read in Chap. 8. recorded at large what his form and nature is how compleat and beautiful how learnedly wise he is in naturals that this is his Kingdom and the Devil the King thereof CHAP. 13. Shewing what the Law is at large and in short and whether any can keep the Law and when he is said to keep the Law and when not Reason THou seemest to affirm That the Law was given to the Seed of Reason which thou all along hath said is the Devil and if there had been no such Seed as Reason there had been no need of a Law by what rule then doth the Seed of Faith walk by if the Law was not given to them as well as to our Seed seeing both Seeds inhabits together and those of that Seed have been as wicked as Reason Faith As before thou hast heard me prove it so now I affirm it That the Law Moral or the ten Commandments was given to none but the Devil that proud majestical Seed the God of this World for I must tell thee if that wise rich Devil had not a curb to bridle them there had been no living for the poor Devil of thy Seed much less for the Seed of Faith to pass quieâ—ly by thee in the streers were it not the Law doth say Thou shalt not kill thou wouldst murther me for declaring the truth to thee But in that the Law makes Rom 7. 7. sin to be sin yea and that exceeding sinful not onely the Gentile but the Jew Devils also do yea are afraid to execute their cruelty beyond their bounds though many of thy Seed do exceed it yet the moderate Devil is fearful of it saying have a care what ye do to these men as Pilaâ—e said I finde Mâ—t. 27. 19. no fault in him nor no cause of death and so the Law wrought a terror in Pilates wife saying Have thou nothing to do with that just man c. insomuch that Pilate tooke water and washed his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of 2 Thes 3. 2. the blood of this just person see ye to it and therefore it is written That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men that live without a Law of which many of the Gentile Devils are guilty of onely
for he that loveth anâ—ther hath fulfilled the Law And true it is when rightly considered the efficacy of spiritual love it is of so pure and holy a nature that it cannot possibly do any impure or unholy thing when it is moved to manifest it self according to its Divine Property it naturally produceth all Heavenly excellency in the Elect of the Lord Love delights to Lord over none but be servant to all and gives every one preheminence before it self and therefore it truly Honors its Parents Love is so far from envy that instead of killing of any it lieth down at envies feet to be killed of him yea it stayeth envy by its patience and meekness and therefore saith Paul Our weapons are not carnal 2 Cor. 10. 3 4. but spiritual Not a sword of steel but a sword of love Oh! the Revelation of faith teacheth his to flay none but with love nay love is that Divine balsom that it cureth all wounds made by envies weapons Love is so sincere That it will not do that to another that would not another should do to it And therefore it will not commit adultery nor wrong any though it might have many an opportunity to defraud and cozen another it will rather want before it will steal In this love there is no equivocation it will not backbite or stain anothers reputation as it is written Love worketh no Rom. 13. 9. ill to its neighbour and therefore would rather die then bear false witness against either friend or enemy Also this love is generous full of pâ—ty and mercie That it cloathes the naked feeds the hungry visiteth the sick in prison and out of prison Nay this love is so pure that it enjoys it self no longer then it is doing good to others and therefore it will not covet his neighbours house his neighbours wife his mâ—n servant or maid servant his ox or his ass or any thing that is his neighbours so that I tell thee there is none of thy seed but for want of this love breaks the Laws and in some things therein confirms it by authority so that by this I love my neighbor as my self Now my neighbours are the Believers of our Commission that hath faith in our Revelation as it is written Brethren Gal. 5 13. ye have been called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self For love is the fruit of the Spirit so that all believers are neighbours and therefore it is vvritten Let brotherly love continue love the brotherhood love as brethren This loving our neighbour as our self is life in death as John saith We know that we have passed from death unto life because 1 John 3. 14. we love our neighbours or our brethren Novv the great Commandment is To love God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Novv if thou canst not love thy neighbour that thou hast seen hovv then canst thou love God thou never savvest For what I have seen and heard I declare unto thee that vvithout knovvledge their can be no love and yet vvhat vain repetitions thy Seed makes to a God ye knovv not As I said before so I say again Though some of thy Seed keeps some of the Commandments nay if possible keep all yet in that thou art ignorant of the true God and so Worship another God thou art guilty of all CHAP. 15. Shewing whether Prayer doth not belong to all and that by Prayer we may come to the knowledge of God and whether it is our duty to make use of the Lords Prayer or no. Reason THou seemest to say in thy last That without the knowledge of God no man can love God and so all that he doth is sin What then shall not a man that is ignorant of God pray unto God for knowledge of him otherwise how shall a soul love God and to that end there are many Exhortations Mat. 6. 9 to prayer and that especially the Lords prayer which there we are taught the form and manner thereof as it is written Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdom come thy will be done in earth Luk. 11. 2. as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever Amen As I have said before concerning the Sabbath That every Commission in its time and place is to be considered That according to their Revelation so was their Worship but I know the Revelation of the Apostles led them forth to prayer and therefore in their Commission it was requisite and their duty so to do Also the form of these words was directed to the Disciples but none of thy Seed whatsoever for I should blaspheme to say That Christ uttered these sayings for the instruction of thy Seed when he saith your Father is the Devil as it is written Ye are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8. 44. and the lust of your Father ye will do so that this Prayer belongs to none but the Disciples After this manner therefore Gal. 4. 6. pray ye yea ye the beloved of the Lord and sons of the Father as it is written Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son by which you cry Abba Father Now were this set form to be used in these days as I cannot finde that to them to whom it was spoken never made use of that form after yet I say if it were it onely belongs to sons who are believers of a Commission so that I say it belonged to none but us in that by the Revelation of our faith we know the Father that is in Heaven both in form and nature and none but we and therefore as we are sons and not servants we can with joy and peace of conscience say Our Father which art in Heaven whereas your Seed being but servants and no sons may take shame and confusion of face as for a man of quality to have another mans childe in the market-place ask him blessing and call him Father What would his friends think of him judge thou So your Seed that are bastards and not sons when you come in your publique Worships what a babling you make thinking to be Isa 1. 15. heard for your much speaking when he hears you not nor knows you not neither doth he in the least take notice of your fasts nor your tears they are all vain repetitions of no more account then the barking of a Dog or the wallowing of the Sow in the mire From the Lord I speak it they are not Reason What then must we not pray at all though we use not those form of words Yet I believe as
is the Holy Ghost the Father uncreate the Son uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate the Father incomprehensible the Son incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible the Father eternal the Son eternal and the Holy Ghost eternal and yet they are not three eternals but one eternal c. so the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not three Gods but one God c. and so we are to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord without which no man can be saved Faith Before thou proceed any further let me give answer to what thou hast already declared and the remarkablest confusion therein contained I shall pitch my discourse upon which is Neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance for thou sayest there are three Persons and but one God their glory equal their majestie co-eternal all uncreate all incomprehensible all eternal and yet not three but one eternal Now let the wisest head-peice of thy Seed answer me from these words Whether thou intends the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God as in relation to their Persons or their Natures for let me tell thee if thou believe them as touching their persons then know thou hast divided the Substance as for instance the potter of one substance matter or earth makes three vessels now though these three be of one and the self same substance yet they are divided so not one but really three distinct in each form the one from the other As thus here is three ⊙ ⊙ ⊙ distinct in themselves yet one like another not onely in form but nature also in that they are all of one matter so cannot disagree though three yet let thy Reason work which way it will thou canst not make of these three one ⊙ in which single face or person that intire nature that is unity in trinity must be comprehended and contained in one single person alone onely bearing the name of three titles viz. Father in the Creation the Son in Redemption and the Holy Ghost in Justification Without the true knowledge of what I have said from my Revelation I tell thee thy faith shall perish eternally Reason I acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord and yet I say there are not three Gods and three Lords as thus the Father is made of none neither created nor begotten the Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten the Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding c. and in this Trinity none is afore nor after another none is greater nor less then another but the whole three Persons be co eternal together and co equal So thus the Vnity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped he therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity Faith O senseless Sot as were thy Teachers so art thou as to imagine that one God should have three Persons which is as unpossible as for a mortal King to have three persons and but one King for this I know though a King by generation may bâ—get a son yet that childe is not a father but a son so not one but two neither is the son equal with the father though the next heir to the Crown But however this by Faith I know the Son was the Father neither made created nor begotten as in the second Chapter is proved at large for this know if Christ was begotten then he was created so made and if begotten tell me who begot him and where and by what means Christ was begotten Reason I know no otherwise but as in the Creed I believe Christ Jesus to be the onely Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made for us and for our salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified under Pontius Pilate be suffered and was buried and the third day rose again and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and I believe as in the other Creed Christ was God of the Substance of the Father begotten before the Worlds and man of the Substance of his mother â—â—rn in the world perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting equal with the Father as touching his Godhead and inferiour to his Father as touching his Manhood one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ who shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead which Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life which proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets c. Faith What a knotty gouty thred hath thy Seed spun insomuch that therewith they have woven a web of linsey-woolsey stuff sufficient to cloath the Devil as have but patience and thou shalt hear what confused blasphemy there is in these Creeds held forth to be the Faith of the Church of England without which thou sayest no flesh can be saved That thou mayest for the future take notice of thy ignorance I shall reduce them into three heads and so answer them directly as I shall quote them in their order 1. First Thou believest as thou hast expressed That Christ was God of the substance of the Father begotten before the Worlds and Man of the substance of his mother born in this World If this by thee were rightly understood I should not need Answ to expound them any other then verbatim as they lie but in that I know thou intends the Father as he was a Person got his Son a Person also therefore from the Authority of our Commission I say Thou knowest not how the Father came in being to be God much less then how this Son was begot by the Father for the word Begotten doth imply first the Father begetting 2. The matter conceived 3. The formation of this conception into a person like his Father for this I know no childe can be begotten without a dissolution of seed which seed must first dye before it can quicken to a new life which life will produce a form like its seed now this could not be in the Father didst thou but with me know what the Nature and Person of the Father was before the World That as the Godhead was offered unto death through Heb. 9. 14 the Eternal Spirit So from my Revelation of Faith I say The Eternal Spirit according to its own word and pleasure cloathed it self with a
Divine Heavenly Substance in the proportion and linaments of a man whose person was more bright and glorious then the Sun softer then Doun and swifter then thought So that I say this was the substance the Fathers person then consisted of and against men and Angels I affirm that there was no person before the world but the Father onely neither could he beget a Son until he dissolved his Divine substance into seed in the womb of Mary by which dissolution the Father begot or conceived himself into a Son of flesh blood and bone For this by faith I know that the person of the Father was capable of transmutation into the form of flesh though now he is not having taken upon him the form of flesh in fulfilling that promise saying The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent Gen. 3. 15 which was no other but the Eternal Father was to be born of a woman with flesh blood and bones so that it was not the Father begot a Son but the Father became a Son as the Prophet Eliah by Revelation clearly unfolds saying unto us A childe is born unto us a Son is given and the Government Isa 9 6. shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellour the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace and then it is written that that Word or Eternal Spirit that formed it self as aforesaid that Word became flesh and dwelt among us and saith Paul The Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily so that it is clear as in the Ioh. 1. 14. second Chapter is infallibly proved that the Father begot no Son before the Worlds but the Father in time became a Son himself and that not in two persons but one person alone But then what wilt thou do with these Scriptures where it is written Reason Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee also it is said We beheld his glory the glory as of the Psal 2. 7. onely begotten of the Father and again it it said Ioh 1. 14. Unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again Heb. 1. 5. No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared him also it is written I will be to him a Father Joh. 1 17. and he shall be ti me a Son Now if Christ was not begotten of his Father why or wherefore should the Apostles Revelation declare that Christ had a Father and was begotten by him Faith As I have often told thee so I say again What hast thou to do with Scripture our Commission being the onely Interpreter thereof thou not believing the report therein was damned Yet for the further satisfaction of the hearers that shall believe this I shall declare that the Apostles in their Commission was not to know Christ any further or otherwise then onely a Son begotten by his Father and that for them in their time was sufficient as the Son himself expresseth John 15. 16. All things that the Father hath made known to me I have made known unto you also Paul declares He that confesseth with his tongue and believeth with his heart that Christ is the Son of God shall be saved Though now in our Commission it is not sufficient in that our Revelation leads us infallibly to believe Christ was and is the Everlasting Father Creator of Heaven and earth as by Scripture is confirmed All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made So that Christ as he was the Father was the Creator of all things whether in Heaven or earth as is manifest in that intricate Revelation of Paul which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead c. Who can Eph. 1. 20. tell but our Commission who raised Christ from the dead was there any other God or Father but what was within him that raised him from the dead as he saith I have power John 10. 18. to lay down my life and I have power to take it again as in the third Chapter is shewed at large And who should set him at the right hand of the Father but the Godhead power within him that enthroned him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this world but that which is to come insomuch that Christ by his death hath conquered himself to be head over all things And what is that which so highly promoted him above all even his Spiritual body the fulness in which was that which filled all in all So that I say That Father which Christ so often called upon vvhen he vvas on earth I say if it had not been his creature Elias commissionated in Glory then Christ could have made nothing nor by his own power have quickned himself to life again Nay I say if Christ had a real Father that had begotten him then Christ could not have had the preheminence in power name and been the chief head in that the Father is above the Son But hovvever let blinde Reason think vvhat it vvill from an infallible Spirit I say that Elias vvas his Deputy-Father and so at Christs ascension vvas to give up his Authority and Commission to Christ the Eternal Father from vvhence he received it 2. Secondly Thou believest God a reasonable soul perfect God and perfect man c. In ansvver to vvhich from the Revelation of Faith I tell Answ thee is the greatest blasphemy that by man can be imagined as to consider the nature of the tvvo Seeds viz. Faith and Reason First as in relation to their Satisfaction Secondly their povver First What Divine satisfaction could there be in God if there were the least spark of Reason in him I knovving in Reason there is no real satisfaction vvhatever it being a seed though as pure as in the Angels yet it is altogether unsatisfactory in it self as hath been proved in the Reprobate Angel he being left to his pure Reason alone vvas brought to aspiring confusion if possible to unthrone God and all creatures made by him as at large in the fourth Chapter is proved vvhich if the nature of God vvere but pure Reason then might the Reprobate Angel have kept his standing and the rest of the Angels have had full satisfaction in themselves vvithout any supply from God at all vvhich in the fourth Chapter thou hast heard to the contrary And therefore if the Nature of God vvere pure Reason he could have no satisfaction in himself but from another and so in conclusion there must be some above God to satisfie God Therefore from that God vvho is a body of living Faith I say Cursed is that soul vvho believes God to have the least motion of Reason in him nay further in the povver of our Commission I say
this was forged by their own lying imagination do but read the third affirmation in p. 37. of the Quakers Downfal and there you shall read the nature of God in all men more or less c. 5. L. C. said The Devil was the author of this light in the world Answ Now the words that was then said were That Reason the Devil was the light within them but in the Quakers Downfal you shall finde all along that Christ as he was Creator of Heaven and earth by his word of Faith created this light now in being 8 L. C. said He had damned the Lord Mayor seven or eight years ago and a thousand within this eight years and that he had justâ—fied forty or fifty Ans Now ye of the seed of Faith may discern of what seed or spirit these men are of when it is not unknown to you it is not above two years and a half since I first heard of this Commission Now indeed Lodowick Mugleton said some of those words that the Lord Mayor with Recorder Steel and the whole Jury with thousands more had by them been damned 9. He pronounced damnation to George Fox junior and to John Harwood and said several times he would speak no more to them yet after did and said he would answer no question but after did Ans Had but any discerning soul been there he might have beheld the spirit of Cain in them so cruel so tempting that they pull'd us by the Coats and with diabolical speech said they would ensnare us so that I could not but tell them I did not think there had been such a violent spirit in them c. Now after their condemnation charging them with their blasphemy and witchcraft carriage this they esteemed an error or weakness in us 12. One of them said That a spirit hath flesh blood and bones contrary to Christs words Answ Now do but read their first particular and compare it with this last and then judge of what a dark formal hypocritical Rabsheca nature the chief heads of these Quakers are of insomuch that I say were it not that I know ye are all the seed of the Serpent so in darkness I might admire ye should say this or that is blasphemy when as we have told you we onely are the Judge of the Scripture and what we judge is blasphemy heresie or a lye is so and no other For this I infallibly say the first Commission was onely understood by the second Commission and the first and second Commissions are onely understood by our Commission so that the notional Churches have nothing to do with Scripture much less to say the two first Commissions were truth and the last Commission a lye From the Lord of Gloâ—y I say that as theirs were truth in their time and place so now is ours the onely commissionate truth now in being and therefore let me but tell you this once that your Pharisaical preaching and praying with your moderate civill walking aâ—e all but as diâ—t or the dunghil yea as a menstrous cloth not knowing the true God So that from the seed of Gods own body I say ye had better been generated a Snake or a Toad then a rational understanding man as in the day of an account when it is too late you will acknowledge but then in vain FINIS ERRATA PAge 106. line 25. for that faith can take up the words of faith read that faith can take up the words of reason as reason can 〈◊〉 up the words of faith